Bench coaches key for most managers

Responsibilities differ, but jobs crucial to success

May 18, 2003|By Ken Rosenthal, Sporting News.

For eight seasons, Don Zimmer has adopted a Buddha-like posture next to Joe Torre in the Yankees' dugout. Zimmer and Torre sit impassively regardless of whether the team is winning or losing, chatting away like two old friends on a park bench. Their conversations, however, are anything but casual.

Zimmer, a former major-league manager, is the Yankees' bench coach. That makes him Torre's most trusted adviser, his strategic co-planner, almost literally his right-hand man. Together they try to outwit their counterparts in the opposing dugout--managers and bench coaches plotting their own maneuvers in the chess matches in every game.

"Some managers I watch, the bench coach isn't really next to the manager," says Orioles bench coach Sam Perlozzo. "I try not to get too far from the manager. There are always things going on."

In every relationship between manager and bench coach, trust is critical. Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, who spent four seasons as bench coach for Felipe Alou with the Expos and two for Davey Johnson in Los Angeles, says he needed time to gain the confidence of both managers. At first, Tracy says, Alou didn't even allow him to write out the official lineup card.

"Once you get to a point where you're comfortable with your bench coach, you can give them more responsibility," Tracy says.

Such delegation is necessary, particularly before games. Managers need time to fulfill their media obligations and meet one-on-one with players. Certain mundane tasks, such as filling out lineup cards, are better assigned to members of the coaching staff. But in most cases, the job of a bench coach entails far more than offering an extra set of hands.

Perlozzo sets the Orioles' infield defense and gives signs to catchers on when to throw to second if a stolen base is attempted with runners on first and third. Ken Macha helped construct the lineup and positioned the A's defense when he was Art Howe's bench coach, recording the location of every batted ball and updating detailed charts for each opposing hitter as the game progressed. Tracy coordinated spring workouts for Alou and Johnson.

"The job depends on the manager," Perlozzo says. "If you work for a good manager who allows you to have some input, then the job is fun. If all you're allowed to do is fill out lineup cards, that wouldn't be fun to me."

The problem is striking the right balance. Many bench coaches aspire to be managers. Others are former managers seeking another chance.

"One thing that I always kept in my mind," Macha says, "was that it was Art's game, and Art was going to run it the way he wanted to."

Most managers ask bench coaches to propose ideas and strategies while games are in progress, but some welcome input more than others. Bob Melvin had different experiences working under the veteran Phil Garner for one season in Milwaukee and one in Detroit and first-time manager Bob Brenly for two seasons in Arizona.

Garner didn't require much assistance. Brenly was more open to suggestion.

The strategies employed by Brenly and Melvin produced great results in 2001, when Brenly became only the fourth manager in history to win the World Series in his first season.

Perlozzo cites perhaps the biggest thing to remember: "I can suggest all I want, but it's the manager's decision. That's who gets all the heat."